Featuring works by Victoria Fuller, Spencer Gale, and Deborah Newmark

Artist Talk and Q&A: Saturday, August 16, 1 - 2 p.m.

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art is honored to present a new exhibition titled Entanged Expressions: Exploring the Labyrinth of Linearity, which brings together the distinctive visions of Victoria Fuller, Spencer Gale, and Deborah Newmark. Entangled Expressions is an immersive journey into the realm of meandering and undulating lines, where art converges with the intricate patterns of nature, mathematics, and human expression. This exhibition features the captivating works of three visionary artists who ingeniously navigate the complexities of lines, knots, and entanglements, each employing a unique medium to articulate their profound explorations. Within this curated space, viewers encounter a myriad of forms and textures, woven together by the common thread of meandering lines. The interplay of light and shadow dances upon the surfaces, inviting contemplation and engagement. In Spencer Gale’s work, glass and neon intertwine, casting a mesmerizing glow that illuminates the intricacies of the human experience. Gale also creates works using only argon or krypton–each type of gas affects lighting intensity and the overall glow of the light emitted. Victoria Fuller harnesses the fluidity of garden hoses, transforming ordinary objects into extraordinary sculptures that mimic the mathematical, molecular, and DNA knots found in the fabric of existence. The creations serve as tangible manifestations of the unseen forces that shape our world, inviting viewers to ponder the interconnectedness of all things.

In parallel, Deborah Newmark’s mixed media drawings and paintings feature a personal language of loose, sinewy lines and organic shapes abstracted from nature. Her creative process embraces chance, serendipity, interconnectivity of all things, becoming a metaphor for the complexity of human emotions and relationships. We invite you to join us for the Opening Reception on Saturday, July 12 from 12 - 4 p.m. during which time the artists will be present. The exhibition will remain on view throughSeptember 14, 2025.

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) preserves and promotes contemporary art as a shared expression of the Ukrainian and American experience. UIMA develops, utilizes and encourages artistic talent through exhibitions, concerts, readings, lectures and films to serve the cultural needs of our community and city, and thereby strengthen cultural understanding and diversity.

About the Artists:

Chicago artist Victoria Fuller has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was awarded a 2019 DCASE Independent Artist Project Grant and an Illinois Arts Council CAAP Grant, in 2009. She was awarded the Dean Alan Olson Purchase Award for the Rockford Art Museum permanent collection in 2020 and was Awarded Best in Show at the 2021 Evanston and Vicinity Exhibition. An exhibition of her work about animal extinction was held at The Buffalo Museum of Science, and a solo exhibition of her work held at the Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg, PA, in 2022-2023. Several of her artworks are in the collection of Artemezia Foundation Museum in Bisbee, Arizona. She also received fellowship awards from The Illinois Arts Council and from the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities. Her large-scale public sculpture “Shoe of Shoes” is in the collection of Caleres Shoes in St. Louis. Her sculptures have been commissioned by Sound Transit in Seattle, and Comed in Chicago. In 2016 she was featured in Sculpture Magazine’s May issue, as part of the show “Disruption” at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ. Her most recent large-scale public sculpture, titled “Canoe Fan,” is owned by the city of Ann Arbor installed along the Huron River in Gallop Park.

Spencer Gale is a neon bender and sculptor working in Chicago and southwestern Colorado. He received his BFA from the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago in 2023. He is an interdisciplinary artist examining the relationship between found object sculpture and light through neon. As a neon bender, he endeavors to always push his skills and explore the many visual phenomena in this esoteric art form.

Chicago artist Deborah Newmark, earned a BA and a BFA from the University of Illinois. Continuing education includes studies in drawing, painting, and printmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Oxbow, Lillstreet Gallery, and the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative. Recent exhibitions include Liminal Space (2024), a two-person show with Bethany Cordero at Oliva Gallery; a solo show at Pour Evanston;Healing Through the Arts at the Zhou B Art Center (curated by Sergio Gomez); Migrations: Black & White 2.0 at the Evanston Art Center (curated by Makeba Kedem-DuBose); In Conversation with Dale Washington at Bridgeport Art Center; the 2023 RNDD Fall Gallery Walk; Earth Abundance at Oliva Gallery; Artruckish at Union in Evanston; Words Matter (2021) at The Art Center Highland Park (also curated by Kedem-DuBose); Ephemera: The Power of Impermanence (curated by Victoria Fuller); and the Evanston Made Member Shows at the Evanston Art Center in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Prior to 2020 Newmark was the Creative Director for Skyline Design, an award-winning Chicago-based manufacturer of decorative architectural glass. As head of product design, she created collections of patterned, printed, textured, and painted glass. These designs continue to be specified by global architectural firms such as Gensler and Perkins & Will and are installed in corporate, hospitality, and healthcare settings throughout the U.S. Her design experience remains a vital influence in her studio practice today.